Nomination and Selection Processes

Nomination Process

Written nominations will be solicited from the University of Kansas community. All nominations must be signed by the nominator to be valid or received electronically from the nominator. A nomination form must be received in HR no later than the first day of September, December, March or June for that nominee to be eligible for selection in the following quarter. In the event there are insufficient nominations, then the deadlines may be extended. Nominations may be submitted by anyone from the university community.

If needed, HR can provide assistance in completing a nomination form.

A completed nomination form will be assigned to Employee Recognition Committee (ERC) teams prior to each quarterly meeting. Each review team will be composed of a least two members of the ERC. Teams will not be assigned nominees from their own departments, nominees they have previously reviewed, or nominees with close personal relationships.

ERC review teams will use the nomination form as the primary source of information about the nominee. Interviews by telephone will be conducted to check with the supervisor and contact person. In addition to the nomination form the committee will take into consideration any letters of support provided, along with working associations both in and outside the department with university faculty, staff and students, including committee members.

Reviews will be completed by the date of the quarterly meeting where voting on Employees of the Month takes place. These meetings will be generally scheduled the month following the nomination deadline. During the selection meeting, each review team member will be expected to present the results of his/her review to the ERC for discussion. ERC members should not be influenced by the review team’s information from prior considerations.

Selection Process

Employees of the Month

The two employees of the month are selected by the following process:

After presentation and discussion, the ERC will select two (2) Employees of the Month for each month in the next quarter.

If there are more than twelve nominees, the committee members will vote for 2/3 of the number of nominees and then will vote for the number of candidates minus one.

If there are twelve or fewer nominees, the committee members will vote for the number of candidates, minus one.

The candidate receiving the fewest votes will be eliminated. In the event of a tie for fewest votes, the ERC may do a hand vote to determine which nominee will move forward to the next round.

The remaining ballots will follow the same elimination process.

When the number of candidates has been reduced to six (6), those individuals will be designated as employees of the month winners for the next three months of the quarter.

The chairperson does not vote during this process, unless needed to break ties.

Employees of the Year

The two employees of the year are selected using the following process:

From the list of Employees of the Month selected from April of the previous year through March of the current year, the ERC will meet to discuss and vote on the Employees of the Year. This vote will take place in March.

To select the winners, the ERC members will vote for 2/3 of the number of nominees until the number is less than 8. Afterwards, members will vote for the number of candidates minus one. The candidate receiving the fewest votes will be eliminated. The remaining ballots will follow the same elimination process until the process is completed. In the event of a tie for fewest votes, the ERC may do a hand vote to determine which individuals will move forward to the next round.

When the number of candidates has been reduced to 2, those individuals will be designated as Employees of the Year winners.

Recipients of an Employee of the Year award are not eligible for the Employee of the Month award again until after three years.

The chairperson does not vote during this process, unless needed to break ties.